


Time for Truth

by Japaha



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-09
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-04 04:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1076492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japaha/pseuds/Japaha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Request from ohmyohpioneer on tumblr). Emma has had enough of being pushed into a relationship with Neal and tells her parents about her past with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time for Truth

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to keep the Neal bashing at bay, but if you are a hardcore fan you might not want to read this, as I've found it to be hard to avoid Neal criticism with this topic.

“But every curse can be broken, right?”, Mary Margaret’s voice sounded a bit panicked as she turned to Gold for an answer. Emma held her breath waiting for Gold’s answer.  
After some deliberation Gold nodded: “Yes, every curse can be broken with true love, this much has been established multiple times, but in this case I fear it will not be simple. Since this curse isn’t directly linked to a counter spell, we can only guess what will break it. We may have to wait for years until we find a way. Only one thing is certain. A curse this strong can only be broken with the strongest form of true love. I’m afraid neither you and your shepherd nor Emma’s love for her son will be enough this time.”

“But what if a product of true love were to kiss her own true love… would that not count for something?”, Snow suggested, glancing towards Emma.

“Yes, this could work, but it would have to be in the right moment and at the right time. Every curse has to unfold completely before it can be broken.”

Satisfied with Gold’s answer she turned to Emma, who was warily glancing back at her:   
“Well then we need a way for you and Neal to find each other once the curse has hit.”  
“Mary Margaret, I don’t think that is…”  
But Snow wasn’t listening; she had already turned back to Regina and Gold: “Is there any way we can ensure that Neal and Emma find each other?”  
Emma had had enough, for the past days she’d constantly been pushed towards Neal by everyone, but most especially by her own parents. When it came to feelings, they seemed to think she was not only highly incapable of making up her mind, they also seemed to be under the impression they knew more about her past with Neal than she did.   
Before she could stop herself Emma all but shouted: “Neal isn’t my true love!”.  
And now she’d done it, all heads turned towards her, looking at her as if she were insane.   
“What do you mean, Neal isn’t your true love?”, Snow asked. “Emma I know you’re prone to running away from your feelings but now really isn’t the time-“.  
Emma felt tears stinging in her eyes.  
“I am not running away from my feelings, but I am sick and tired of everyone constantly bugging me to get back together with Neal. I know that you are trying to be good parents and to look out for me, but right now you’re just being patronizing. Just listen to what I have to say for once, please.  
I know you think that the first person you fall in love with is automatically your true love and it’s great that that’s happened to you and that that might be how it works in fairy-tale-land, but where I’ve grown up things just aren’t that simple. I loved Neal once and I think I still do, but I will never be in love with him again. He can’t be my true love, by your descriptions I’d know it if it were different. So I’m sorry to disappoint but breaking the curse won’t be this simple.” 

Silence fell onto the vault after Emma’s speech.  
Finally after a long pause, Charming looked at Emma and quietly asked: “What did Neal do to you, that you find a happy ending with him so impossible?”  
Emma blinked staring at her father, she didn’t want to discuss this not here not in front of Gold and most importantly Henry. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”   
With that she turned around to leave, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Henry’s face. Even as in Peter’s body he looked like her little boy, his eyes giving away so much, now looking at her with a sad curiosity. “Mom I need to know, remember you promised me: No more lies.”   
“Henry I-, I think you should hear this story from Neal, he should be the one to tell you. Anything else would be unfair towards him.”  
“But maybe I want to hear it from you.”  
Before Emma could answer, Regina interrupted: “Well, as much as I would love to hear this tale of heartbreak, I hardly think now is the right time for stories. Feel free have your long overdue family therapy talk, but if you don’t mind I’ll skip this session in favour of doing something more productive.  
Gold, unless you want to know the darkest depths of your son’s soul I think it’s best if you, Belle and I go to your shop to see if we can do anything about this curse since the true love loophole obviously isn’t going to work. Seal the vault when you’re done and don’t touch anything!”  
With that she got up, Rumple and Belle tagging along with her, leaving only the Charmings to their awkward silence.  
Emma sat down, facing Henry, as her father sat down next to her, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulders.  
She locked all emotions away behind a wall and calmly told them everything, starting in Portland with stealing her bug, something she sensed her parents weren’t all too happy about, but decided to let slide.  
She told them about her Bonny and Clyde adventure with Neal, about their dream of Tallahassee and the stolen watches. She defended Neal’s actions, trying to place as much blame as possible on August, for Henry’s sake, but when she got to the point where she was arrested, her father’s hand gripped her shoulder a little painfully, the knuckles turning white, her mother was crying and Henry’s face portrayed a mixture of his grandfather’s anger and his grandmother’s sadness.   
Emma finished her story with giving birth to Henry chained to her bed and the bar conversation with Neal in New York.   
By the time she was done her mother had regained some self-control and had moved to hug Henry. She looked at Emma and apologized: “I’m so, so sorry, I should have listened to you, I should have known you had your reasons, I wish I could turn back time to travel to this world with you instead of August, I-”  
“It’s fine, Mom I forgive you, as I’ve said what’s done is done.” Emma’s focus lay with Henry who still sat unmoving and was staring blankly at some point on the wall across from him.  
Emma freed herself of her father’s iron grip and knelt before her son. Taking Peter’s hands in her own, she forced him to meet her eyes.   
“Listen Henry, I need you to understand that this isn’t your father’s fault, please talk to him, he will want to give you his side of the story. Can you promise me you’ll talk to him.”  
Henry nodded slowly. Relieved Emma turned around to face her father’s reaction only to find that he wasn’t there anymore. She jumped up and hurried out of the vault. Outside she was met by the sight and sounds of her father’s fist connecting with Neal’s jaw. Before David could punch him again, Hook had grabbed his arm giving Emma time to shield Neal from another attack.   
“Dad, not now, we have a curse to break!”   
“Alright, but once it’s over I can kill him, okay.”  
Both glanced back at Neal who was nursing his wounds.  
“Maybe, I can’t promise anything.”  
“Maybe is good enough for me.”


End file.
